The Cherry Blossom Alchemist
by TheAnonymousPie
Summary: Kakashi asks Edward to come back to Konoha to train Sakura in he art of Renkinjutsu, or as he knows it, Alchemy. (Not an Edward/Sakura pairing. Pairings will be decided later.) Multiple POV's, mostly Edward and Sakura's. Rated T because everyone knows you can't be a good ninja OR alchemist and not swear... Will be continued if you guys say so.
1. The Hagane no Renkinjutsushi

_"Jeez, I'd have thought, being Kakashi's pupils, you would know better. Feh."_

Naruto huffed angrily, thinking about the stranger. Who did he think he was, barging in on Sasuke's and his fight, telling them both to stand down? He had no business trying to stop them from seeing who was stronger. Although, he did a pretty good job...

* * *

_"Feh. You both want to be the strongest? You idiots."_

Sasuke kicked a stone on the hospital's roof, his usually impassive face marred with a scowl. What would some stupid stranger know about anything? He acted like he knew Naruto and Sasuke on a personal level. They had never even seen him before! Although, Sasuke had to admit, that he was, in a dark, secluded part of his mind, impressed. To be able to stop two high-level jutsu without even using any chakra...

* * *

_"You idiots. The strongest would never have caused a friend to cry. But you two saw her, upset, and didn't even care? Much less almost_ killed _her!_"

Sakura cast a curious glance at the stranger before them. It seemed as though he and Kakashi were old friends, ones who had apparantly not seen each other in a while. He wore a bored expression on his face while he talked to Kakashi, but his eyes were burning like molten lava. Such a peculiar color...was it her imagination, or did he just look her way...?

* * *

"Good thing I got here in time, eh Kakashi?"

Kakashi smiled at the man. An old friend, passing through on a visit to the Hidden leaf village. "You never fail to impress me. How did you even find our village? It isn't called 'Hidden' for nothing."

The blonde-haired, golden-eyed man smirked. "You did give me a map, you know, although it was pretty...vague. Actually, I could have found the village just from all the noise your pupils were making. And they call themselves ninjas...except for the pink-haired one." His molten eyes flitted across the scene to her, as he lowered his voice conspiratorially, continuing, "She's the only one of them who will ever turn out to be a good Shinobi, if this kind of attitude keeps up."

Kakashi remembered why he had gotten the man to come in the first place, and also said, his voice low, "Actually, I have a favor to ask of you, in regards to Sakura..."

* * *

"Alright, I can deal with that," the visitor said, nodding his head slightly. The girl, Sakura, seemed intelligent enough for his standards.

Kakashi gave the man a rare smile, and said, "Thanks. It sure is handy to have you back in town. I'll have to make sure and notify the new Hokage."

"There's a new one?" The man said, his surprise evident. "What happened to Sarutobi?"

Kakashi's smile lessened, and he said quietly, "Ah...I'll explain later."

Golden eyes narrowed in suspicion. He had a bad feeling about this...He would make sure he got the whole story out of his old friend later. For now, the most he asked was, "So, who's the new one?"

"Tsunade."

"Hmmm...wise choice." It really was, even though the last time he had seen her, it was in a casino, losing all of her money. Hopefully, she had changed...

Kakashi nodded, and inquired, "So, any messages you want conveyed to her?"

The visitor thought for a moment, before saying, with a slight smirk, "Tell her...tell her that the Hagane no Renkinjutsushi is back."

Kakashi chuckled. "Still the same, Mr. Fullmetal Alchemist, Edward Elric."

Ed laughed along with him. "Just call me Ed."


	2. Jealousy

_A little while earlier..._

"Come with me."

"Hah!"

Sakura watched the two, her concern growing rapidly. They didn't honestly intend to fight each other, did they?!

A minute later, they were on the roof, and Sasuke and Naruto were throwing insults and taunts at each other. However, Sakura was barely listening, for she was much too focused on the look in both of their eyes...

...Jealousy...

She was jolted from her confusion by the beginning of the fight. She watched as her two friends threw punches, blocked, kicked, and the tears that had been building up began to spill down her face. She had to do something...but what? Both of the boys had clearly progressed way beyond her power...

A thought struck her, and she knew, as much as she wished she didn't have to, that it was the only way.

She ran to the center of the fight just as the fighters had both turned to their most powerful card...

* * *

Sasuke was flying towards Naruto at lightening speed, just as Naruto was running at him with the sphere of chakra in his hand.

_What the hell is that supposed to do? _Sasuke thought to himself, smirking. At this rate, he would blow the hyperactive blonde into the next month. His Chidori was more dangerous than some spinning ball of chakra. Naruto could never concentrate enough to actually be able to form anything close to the lightning-like power that Kakashi and Sasuke wielded.

His glee was interrupted by a figure running towards the point where Naruto and he would impact. _Sakura?! _He thought angrily. What did that fool think she would accomplish by standing between them, other than hurting herself.

However, his anger quickly turned to alarm as he realized he couldn't stop. He kept accelerating towards Sakura without control.

Suddenly, he slammed into something that sent him flying backwards, his Chidori creating a small crater where he landed. Could that have been Naruto? No, there was no chakra in the blow...the dust began to clear away, and a figure was just barely visible.

* * *

Naruto was sure that his Rasengan would blow Sasuke out of the water.

_I mean, seriously, _the boy thought smugly, _I've perfected an ability that the Fourth couldn't!_

He would show Sasuke. It was clear the black-haired boy didn't believe he could become Hokage in the slightest. But he would make it clear to him that it wasn't only possible, but it was unavoidable.

Naruto had just finished the formation of his spinning chakra and began picking up speed as he ran at Sasuke, when a he saw a flash of pink in the corner of his eye.

_Sakura?! _His face grew alarmed. at the speed and direction the three were going at, they would crash head-on. Naruto tried to slow down, but found himself unable to do so.

The most likely situation was that with the sudden interference, he and Sasuke would be thrown in opposite directions, and Sakura..._dammit!_

They were just reaching their point of collision when Naruto was thrown back by something. He catapulted to the other side of the roof, just barely stopping before flying over the edge.

_What the..._


	3. A Stranger Well-Known

**Hey yawl. I have decided that Sunday is my update day, because I like to have something to look forward to, before the long, boring, mind-numbing school week sets in. And when I update, I can look forward to (Hopefully) reviews throughout the week, so I don't recline into a grim state of non-being.**

**I would like to thank all of you guys for your follows, favorites, and reviews, because they are AWESOME and they make me have a purpose to keep writing...thanks XD**

_Back to present..._

Kakashi was looking around, surveying the scene of carnage on the rooftop grimly. He glanced at the golden-haired blonde standing next to him, with a vaguely sheepish expression on his face.

"You don't suppose you could..." He trailed off, gesturing with a wave of his hand to the rubble.

"Wha...oh yeah, of course," Ed smirked slightly, adding, "I know you could do it yourself, though..."

Kakashi grimaced, thinking to the last time he had performed Renkinjutsu, and snorted. "Yeah, except it would leave me practically immobile for a month...besides, your way is faster than if we drew a transmutation circle around the entire building."

Ed laughed. "Ha, yeah, it'd be a shame if you were paralyzed. Then I would feel bad and end up volunteering to take care of the little brats. Besides," the blonde added, his golden eyes flickering with the light of mischief, "I might as well give 'em a little scare...you know, so they don't mess with me while I'm around or anything..."

Before Kakashi could respond, Edward had clapped his hands and placed them on the rooftop. The blue light he hadn't seen for so long surged up, and there was a loud BAM, and then...

The jounin smiled at the completely shocked look on his three students' faces. Edward was probably right; scare them at their first impression and most likely they would be obedient later...he should have thought of that when he first met the three young ninjas...

He surveyed the scene before him, giving a slight whistle. The roof was in the same, if not better, condition before the fight between the two young ninjas.

Speaking of which...

Kakashi turned to the culprits a lecture already on his lips, when he realized that both were gone. He sighed, thinking he would first talk to Naruto, seeing as he would be easier to persuade into listening.

He faced Edward, ready to apologize for having their reunion be cut short, when he saw that the younger man had made his way over to Sakura, who was kneeling on the ground, biting her lip to prevent the sobs wracking her body from coming to surface.

Kakashi was surprised, thinking Edward wasn't the type to play the comforting stranger. Then again, it had been a while since he had last seen the blonde Renkinjutsu-wielder. Long enough for him to have changed quite a bit...

He watched from afar for a minute, and was surprised to see that Sakura eventually lost control and was sobbing in font of someone she didn't know, a little unusual for the head-strong konoichi. It seemed like she thought she could trust him. The young man put a hand on her shoulder. Sakura began to calm down.

After a few minutes of watching them, it seemed that whatever Edward was saying had calmed Sakura down enough that, even though there were still tears in her eyes, she had a small smile on her face.

Kakashi headed over to their spot on the roof.

**Sorry it's so short, but originally this was pretty much all one big thing and I was having trouble trying to make the chapters long and not cut them off at weird places. I'll see what I can do to make it better...sorry...**

**Preview of next chapter:**

_The man laughed, but not in a mocking way. He said, after a moment, 'It's nice to know there are still people like you and me, who have something resembling...you know, a brain.'"_**  
**

__**TROLOLOL BYE**


	4. A Tear's True Worth

Sakura couldn't believe either of them could be so mind-numbingly, blindingly, _infuriatingly stupid! _She thought they had stoppd hating each other to some degree, even matured a little, but it clearly wasn't the case...

"Hey."

Sakura flinched slightly at the sudden break from her miserable reverie. She looked up, expecting to see Kakashi. Her eyes were met with, instead, the stranger. She looked down again. Judging from the way he had mocked her two friends minutes before, he was probably going to reprimand her for crying. She held her breath, waiting for it...

...The scolding never came.

Instead, he sat down beside her. He said quietly, "It's okay to cry. I won't judge."

She glanced up, shocked. This stranger was different from the one who she had met earlier. This one more resembled the one who had jumped in front of her before she was blown to bits by her supposed teammates, shielding her.

The shock on her face melted away, and as hard as she tried to suppress it, the dam broke, and she found herself sobbing, in front of someone who's name she didn't know, but still found she could somehow trust.

She felt a hand rest on her shoulder, and her mind seized the opportunity to distract herself - the hand was hard, through the white glove the owner was wearing. Harder than a normal limb.

Her sobs subsided as she concentrated on the abnormality, her analytical mind already working to sort out the possibilities. Eventually, she was left with hiccups, and she was able to form a thought on the subject of Naruto and Sasuke that wouldn't cause her to break down again.

She glanced up at the young man before her, a blush darkening her tear-stained cheeks.

"Sorry," she said, wincing a little at how gravelly her voice sounded.

"It's fine," he said, giving her a kind smile. He was quiet for a moment, before slowly saying, "You know...it took a long time for me to realize how valuable the ability to cry was."

Sakura's brows furrowed, and she asked, managing to keep her voice from cracking, "How do you mean?"

He sighed, looking out over the tops of the buildings in her village, his eyes traveling past the houses and shops, eventually passing the trees of the forest outside Konoha, and seemingly continuing endlessly.

"My brother and I...we made a grave mistake when we were kids," he began, keeping his slow tempo, and adding before Sakura could ask, "It's a long story, kinda depressing. Maybe one day I'll tell you."

Sakura deduced that he was clearly going to be staying for a while, from how he phrased his words, but she decided against interrupting.

"Anyways, this mistake led to my brother losing his ability to cry, as well as do many other things," he paused for a moment, pain flickering in his eyes, before continuing. "And I simply decided that if I cried, it would make me weak."

She wondered what kind of situation it was. She asked before he could go on, "Is your brother older than you or younger than you?"

"Younger. So I felt guilty, as if it were all my fault, even though we had been in it together since the beginning. Part of me still insists that it was my mistake, and he should have never been involved. I don't think that part of me will ever go away, in all reality. It still haunts my thoughts, my dreams...nightmares." He smiled, but it was a smile without happiness, closer to a grimace.

"Well, I spent most of what should have been my childhood as an adult of sorts...trying to find a way to...fix, you could say, although it's no exactly the right word...maybe atone for my sins. Eventually, I found a cure for my brother, only it was dangerous. For a minute there, I even thought I had lost him. That was just about when I realized how valuable tears were..." He looked at Sakura, whose face still held a slightly perplexed look to them.

He smiled faintly, but kindly, as he said, "Well...it's hard to explain to someone as inexperienced as you, but one day you'll get it."

Sakura frowned. "You know, there's a lot of people who say things like 'one day you'll understand,' or 'I'll tell you when you're old enough to get it'...I understand plenty of things about myself and others that it will take even longer for others to understand, no matter how old they are." She looked over to the man, expecting to see a frown. However, her eyes were met instead with a pleasantly surprised and even a little bit impressed facial expression.

"I'm so glad you pointed that out!" He said, looking genuinely pleased with the girl's reaction. When he saw her face, again etched with confusion, he laughed.

"When I was your age, I think I had just about as much experience with the ways of the known world as you do now. That was the same age that I decided that crying was for weaklings."

Understanding began to dawn on Sakura, but she let him continue.

"Notice that I didn't say anything like 'someone as young as you,' or the like. I said 'someone as inexperienced as you.'"

"Ah!" Sakura exclaimed. "So what you mean is that, no matter how old or young someone is, the only thing that matters is their experience! The day I understand what you meant is the day that I have experienced as much as you did when you finally understood, regardless of age."

The man laughed, but not in a mocking way. He said, after a moment, "It's nice to know there are still people like you and me, who have something resembling...you know, a brain."

She didn't need that one explained to her. A small smile slid across her face, at the idea that she could be classified the same way as the man, even in something as vague as experience. It seemed like an honor, seeing how wise he was. Especially since he looked so young...

"What's your name?" She piped up.

"Ah! How rude of me, not even introducing myself. Edward Elric."

"Sakura Haruno."

"It's nice to meet you, Sakura."

The genuine smile on his face was infectuous. "You too!"


	5. Guilt

**HELLUR! I HAVE DECIDED TO SCREW THE STORM AND UPDATE IN THE MIDDLE OF THE NIGHT A DAY LATE BECAUSE I FRIKIN' CAN!**

**Also the wind outside is making the trees whip around like the nine tails of the Nine-tails, if you know what I'm getting at, and it's freaking the shit out of me.**

**Anyways, other than that bitch Sandy, who I suppose I should be thanking as opposed to cursing as she's given me two days off, nothing is new. I have a cold and Halloween is probably going to be cancelled, which is a shame because it's one of the few times around the year when my friend who goes to boarding school can come and visit me. She gave me a state alchemist watch, and I was pretty much like "I CAN DIE HAPPY!" **

**So, yup. Read, review, etc. Check out my other (limited) stuff if you haven't already. If you have, then check out JinnySkeans's stuff, because DAMN is she a brilliant writer.**

**ENJOY**

**TROLOLOL BYEZ**

Naruto leaned against the side of the building. Of course, it was now that the guilt started to rear its ugly head.

He sighed, wishing he had never gone to visit Sasuke. It only caused pain for Sakura, and that was probably the worst of it, as she was the only one of them who hadn't just screwed up epically.

He didn't entirely understand what had been going through his head, except it had something to do with jelousy. On his part or on Sasuke's, he didn't know, but it had definitely been a trigger. What a stupid reason.

_Sasuke started it,_ a little voice in his head reminded him. _You were just appealing to what he wanted._

_That's not really true, though,_ Naruto argued back. _I wanted to fight him as much as he wanted to fight me. It was both of our fault._

The annoying voice didn't reply, which Naruto took to mean that he was right. Not that it made him feel any better.

He pushed off the wall with a _hup!_ and began walking down the road towards his house. He walked slowly, even though his thoughts were running at a mile a minute. It almost felt like he was waiting for someone. But he hadn't made any arrangements. _Stop being so paranoid,_ he scolded himself_._

* * *

"Let me catch up to Naruto," Edward insisted. "I think that I should start getting to know him better, escpecially if-"

Kakashi cut him off. "Fine. You go after Naruto, I'll take Sasuke."

Ed was surprised at how easily his white-haired friend had relented. It almost made the blonde think that he was planning something...but never mind that now.

"Ok. Meet up with you later. At the ramen place?"

"Sure. But you have to pay."

"But I just got here! I'm a guest!"

Kakashi smirked. "Congrats. You're still paying. You're rich, anyways."

Edward growled. It wasn't his money! It was funding for research, payed for by the taxes of the Amestrian populace, not to be used for ramen! However, he just grunted and jumped off the side of the building.

* * *

Sakura gasped. If she was correct, then she had just witnessed a man jump off the roof of the considerably high hospital building. She knew it was possible for some extremely high level Shinobi to do such and not kill themselves, but even then it took some skill.

She ran to the side of the roof, expecting to see a broken form below, but instead, saw the sidewalk, with strange flaw-like marks in it.

She whipped her head around to Kakashi, hoping for an explanation. Before she could open her mouth, however, Kakashi looked over the edge, a glint of humor in his eyes.

"Bah. Show-off!"

Sakura stared at him, wondering how her captain could be so totally and utterly calm at the notion of his apparent friend taking a leap over the side of a three, no, four-story building.

Her inner Sakura was yelling at him,_ "HOW COULD YOU BE SO CALM?! YOUR FRIEND JUST JUMPED OFF THE SIDE OF A BUILDING!"_ but on the outside, she managed to restrain herself to a "Huh?"

Instead of answering, Kakashi said to her, "It's getting pretty late. You should probably go home now, before it gets too dark. Do you want me to take you...?"

"No, I'll be fine," She said quickly, hoping she didn't sound too suspicious. She was planning on something very different...

Kakashi gave her a funny look, that was just barely distinguishable beneath his face mask and his forehead protector, before saying. "Alright. Be careful."

Sakura thought about how close to death she had come just moments before, and at the hands of her teammates no less, and sighed inwardly.

"Yeah..."


End file.
